“In a thorough examination of the program and where we would like to be, we thought it was best to take a different direction, which involved a change in leadership,” Hampton athletic director Novelle Dickenson said. “We believe that Coach Maynor is the right person to lead the program. We were very impressed by his success and his ability to turn around a program. We believe that he possesses what it takes to get the job done here.”

Dickenson would not disclose contract terms for Maynor. As a private school, Hampton is not required to divulge salaries or contract lengths. Maynor had two years remaining on his deal at Winston-Salem State, which paid him $160,000 annually.

Rose should have never been hired as a head coach. He spent his whole time as a position coach. He was never a coordinator and that alone speaks for itself. As for a turnaround this year, you should talk to the coaches he fired.The OC only took their recommendations and put them in place once...

"My goals will be the same: Win the MEAC, win my next football game, win playoff games and win the national championship," Maynor said at a press conference at Winston-Salem State. "Those are my goals and they will never change. Will we accomplish those goals? Time will tell. We’ve got to get the players in there and we’ve got to get to work and roll up our sleeves. We don’t mind rolling up our sleeves and looking forward to a challenge. We don’t mind that. We’re up for the challenge and we’ll be ready to take the field when it’s time.”

Maynor, 44, said that leaving WSSU for Hampton was "the hardest decision of my life." He worked for an athletic director, Bill Hayes, for whom he played in college and who gave him his first head coaching opportunity. He and his family love WSSU and the community.

Maynor also interviewed for the vacancy at N.C. Central, and he interviewed for jobs after both his first and second seasons at Winston-Salem State.

"One of my goals is I want to win," he said. "I want to win at the highest level, and I think they have all the resources in place to do that. I think the administration and coaches have to be on same page. I think Hampton University is going to put the money in the programs to do that.

"We accomplished all our gaols except one and that’s winning the national championship. ... I want to take it to the next level and try to duplicate what we’ve done here, in the next four or five years."

The deal with Maynor came together quickly, though Dickenson said that the evaluation and interview processes have gone on for weeks. Dickenson said that school officials interviewed several candidates and finally settled on Maynor just within the past couple of days. Maynor said that Hampton offered the job Monday.

Reached Tuesday morning before Maynor’s hiring became official, Rose deferred comment to Dickenson and said he had not spoken to his athletic director since last week.

Dickenson later concurred, but said that other school officials had communicated with Rose about his job status. He said that it was inaccurate to suggest that Rose was unaware of where he stood. He said Rose was informed Monday evening that he was no longer head coach.

A Hampton spokesman said Rose will continue to work at the school in a position that’s yet to be determined, but Dickenson said he had no knowledge of such an arrangement.

Dickenson also said he had no knowledge of details concerning Maynor’s staff. He said that there are no conditions or arrangements with current HU staff members. It’s customary, he said, for the new coach to fill his staff as he sees fit.

Maynor said Tuesday that he plans to bring as many of his assistants as possible.

"I’ve got the best coaching staff in the nation," he said. "Why would I go get somebody else coaching? I don’t want nobody else coaching. I want my coaches. My coaches know what they’re doing. We’ve proved that. Football is football. Xs and Os are Xs and Os. It doesn’t matter what level you’re at.

"We can coach in the MEAC, we can coach in the CIAA, we can coach in the SEC, the ACC, the NFL, we can coach anywhere. We know Xs and Os just as well as anybody else. If we got it done here, we’ll get it done in the MEAC."

Maynor engineered a remarkable turnaround at Winston-Salem State, where the program currently has a 24-game win streak in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. He guided the Rams to three Division II playoff berths and consecutive CIAA titles in 2011 and ’12. He was named conference Coach of the Year both seasons.

WSSU was denied a chance for a third consecutive CIAA title when the conference championship game was canceled, following a much-publicized ambush in which Rams quarterback Rudy Johnson was beaten up by Virginia State players at a pregame banquet.

Maynor spent 10 years as an assistant at Fayetteville State before getting the WSSU job. The Rams went 1-10 the year before he arrived in an aborted attempt to move up to Division I and the MEAC. He guided the team to an 8-2 record his first season.

Maynor is a North Carolina A&T graduate. As a quarterback, he led the Aggies to the 1991 MEAC title and was the conference Offensive Player of the Year.

Rose had a 25-30 record in five years as head coach, 20-20 in MEAC competition. The Pirates’ record trended downward in the past two seasons, while academic performance and NCAA measures trended upward.

HU was 7-15 overall and 7-9 in the MEAC the past two seasons. The 2012 campaign was marked by practice and scholarship restrictions related to chronically poor scores in the NCAA’s Academic Performance Rating (APR).

The Pirates were in good academic standing in 2013, but underwent a midseason coaching shakeup. After an 0-5 start, Rose fired new offensive coordinator Glen Ferebee and installed Mike Villagrana as coordinator.

Rose had promoted Ferebee from quarterbacks coach to O.C. last summer in his first college gig after coaching local high schools. HU rebounded to go 4-3 in its final seven games, but lost three of four to conclude the season.

Rose has been at HU for the past 23 years — 18 years as an assistant under Joe Taylor and then Jerry Holmes. Rose was promoted to head coach in 2009 after Holmes was dismissed.Hampton fielded the MEAC’s premier program under Taylor, earning conference titles and NCAA playoff berths in 1997-98 and again from 2004-06. HU hasn’t won more than seven games in a season since 2006.

"It’s a great challenge," Maynor said. "I don’t mind a challenge. I don’t mind rolling up my sleeves and htting the ground and getting out there, hitting the road and get some recruits in there and try to get that program back to where it was. It’s got a lot of prestige and honor.

Rose should have never been hired as a head coach. He spent his whole time as a position coach. He was never a coordinator and that alone speaks for itself. As for a turnaround this year, you should talk to the coaches he fired.The OC only took their recommendations and put them in place once...

"They’ve won a lot of championships up there and that’s what they expect me to do. Were going to go in there and get them back to what they’re used to seeing and that’s winning championships at that university.”

No, Donovan Rose wouldn't perform dental surgery on fully alert jungle cats, take his son's college fund to Vegas for a weekend, or walk into a biker bar wearing a T-shirt that reads, "Sturgis is for Losers." Why do you ask?

John Calipari has hair and does not chew on towels, and none of his players is likely to appear as Grandmama in a shoe company pitch. Otherwise, the parallels between Kentucky 2015 and Nevada-Las Vegas 1991 are striking.